News For the third consecutive election cycle, Old Town on Friday night witnessed one of the most extraordinary traditions in the race for Portland mayor: the Voodoo Doughnut eating contest.All three major mayoral candidates—Eileen Brady, Charlie Hales and Jefferson Smith—appeared and paid homage to the 24-hour doughnut phenomenon run by entrepreneurs Tres Shannon and Kenneth "Cat Daddy" Pogson."They're ...   More

News The race for Portland mayor is a dead heat, with a new poll showing that state Rep. Jefferson Smith is gaining late momentum, and that businesswoman Eileen Brady is making no progress with voters despite spending nearly $1 million on her campaign.The poll was conducted by DHM Research for Oregon Public Broadcasting and Fox-12. The survey asked 400 likely Portland voters whom they would ...   More

News Mayoral candidate Eileen Brady has now officially eclipsed the $1 million mark in fundraising for the May primary, state filings show. That's a big number for any city race and particularly impressive considering Brady is a first-time candidate. Her opponents, former City Commissioner Charlie Hales and State Rep. Jefferson Smith (D-Portland) have raised $569,000 and $451,000 respectively, since the ...   More

News A couple of weeks ago, the three principal mayoral candidates turned over their personal income tax returns. At the time, Eileen Brady turned over returns from 2008, 2009 and 2010 as did Charlie Hales. But State Rep. Jefferson Smith (D-Portland), only provided returns for 2009 and 2010. The missing 2008 return piqued our curiosity—did Smith win the lottery that year or did Smith, who has a history ...   More

News The unions representing Portland police and firefighters have endorsed State Rep. Jefferson Smith (D-East Portland) for mayor. The public safety unions last year announced they'd be withholding their endorsement in the race for the time being.Smith is perceived to be the most liberal of the three leading candidates. He's running against businesswoman Eileen Brady, former City Commissioner Charlie Hales ...   More

News We're sending the leading mayoral candidates back to school—David Douglas High School, to be precise—at 7 pm this Sunday for Mayoral Debate Club. There'll be no chewing gum, no running in the halls, and definitely no dodging the questions as WW and KATU team up to give Eilleen Brady, Charlie Hales and Jefferson Smith a pop quiz.Update: The debate is now over. You can relive the magic below, then ...   More

News An environmentally themed Portland mayoral debate on Wednesday night saw two foiled gatecrashing attempts by lesser-known candidates on the ballot. The most surprising incident of the night came when moderator April Baer called the candidates onto the Benson High School auditorium stage, where a podium each was set aside for the three leading candidates: Eileen Brady, Charlie Hales and Jefferson Smith. ...   More

News Tuesday night's Candidates Gone Wild featured mayhem and embarrassment: political hopefuls belted show tunes, answered questions on Portland history, and built a mini-Columbia River Crossing for a dog. But with the three mayoral candidates locked in a tight race, the show was more tense and barbed than in past years.Jefferson Smith and Charlie Hales both took pointed jabs at a "$4 tomato"—a not-especially-veiled ...   More

News As WW reported last week, mayoral candidate Eileen Brady is outspending her primary opponents by a wide margin—her $824,000 is more than what Charlie Hales and Jefferson Smith have spent, combined—and she's spent $233,500 of that on television ads. Her ads moved into heavy rotation last week, with Brady loaning her campaign $40,000. She looks positioned to push her mayoral foes off viewers' TV ...   More

Elections There’s a little more than two weeks before May primary ballots go out, and the contest for Portland mayor remains wide open. The most competitive mayoral primary in 20 years comes down to this:   More